1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to curtain drawing devices. More particularly, the invention concerns an apparatus of novel design having an elongated rod assembly made up of cooperating sections each having a spiral formed thereon which engages and controllably moves a plurality of curtain connectors along a track as the rod assembly is controllably rotated.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A very large number of different types of curtain drawing devices have been suggested in the past. Many of these prior art devices are operable both manually as well as by small electric motors some of which can be remotely controlled.
Various types of drive mechanism have been suggested for operably inter-connecting the electric motor with the curtain drawing apparatus. For example, pulley and cable systems have been suggested as well as a number of different types of gearing mechanisms, such as a rack and pinion and worm screw rack mechanisms. A drawback of many of the prior art devices is that because of their complexity of design they are expensive to manufacture, are expensive to maintain and tend to be unreliable in operation. Another drawback of many of the prior art devices is that they must be custom made to fit each window thereby adding to their cost.
Exemplary of one type of prior art curtain drawing device, which can be operated both manually and automatically, is the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,922 issued to Shimazaki. The Shimazaki device comprises an electric motor, a curtain rod which is driven rotatably by the motor, a longitudinally-extending spiral element attached to the outer circumference of the curtain rod and a plurality of rings through which the curtain rod passes. Each of the rings has a diameter larger than the diameter of the curtain rod, so that the curtain, which is suspended from the rings, can be drawn either manually or by rotation of the curtain rod. An automatically-releasing tassel holder which can be operated by remote control is also disclosed by Shimazaki.
The thrust of the present invention is to provide a novel apparatus that overcomes many of the drawbacks of the prior art devices by providing a fully automatic motor driven apparatus which is of simple, but highly reliable design and one which can be easily adjusted to accommodate windows of widely differing sizes.